Mekons are shambolic, glorious, messy, and inspirational. They've broken up and reformed about half a dozen times over their 20-year career, shedding and adding members at will. In the process, the collective (led by ace c... more &raquoartoonist and all-round beer drinker Jon Langford, haunting vocalist Sally Timms, and wiry good-looker Tom Greenhalgh) have created several genius post-punk, country-influenced, frantic, melancholy, and political records (look for Original Sin and 1991's haunting So Good It Hurts). It's very appropriate, then, that this new collection of rarities is chaotic--a sprawling 17-track compilation that includes collaborations with the Raincoats ("Gill and Vicky"), antihooliganism stances ("Mekons Vs. Peace Love Hooligans"), and covers of English nursery rhymes ("Oranges and Lemons"), plus the odd snippet of rancor and biting sarcasm, of course. Buy Mekons now, and change your life! --Everett True&laquo less

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Mekons are shambolic, glorious, messy, and inspirational. They've broken up and reformed about half a dozen times over their 20-year career, shedding and adding members at will. In the process, the collective (led by ace cartoonist and all-round beer drinker Jon Langford, haunting vocalist Sally Timms, and wiry good-looker Tom Greenhalgh) have created several genius post-punk, country-influenced, frantic, melancholy, and political records (look for Original Sin and 1991's haunting So Good It Hurts). It's very appropriate, then, that this new collection of rarities is chaotic--a sprawling 17-track compilation that includes collaborations with the Raincoats ("Gill and Vicky"), antihooliganism stances ("Mekons Vs. Peace Love Hooligans"), and covers of English nursery rhymes ("Oranges and Lemons"), plus the odd snippet of rancor and biting sarcasm, of course. Buy Mekons now, and change your life! --Everett True

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CD Reviews

The Fall and Rise of Mekons

Keith Keller | Napa, Ca. United States | 11/20/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Mekons staggered their way out of the Manchester UK punk scene some years ago. The best simple descriptive terms for their music is, "cynical, revolutionary folk-punk". Imagine a crazed scenario where The Clash meets Fairport Convention....revolutionary sentiments, drunken reggae beats and bits of quirky folk music coalescing into a new and grand coalition. This band is intelligent and darkly funny, mixing bits of Marxist rhetoric, gay politics, ruminations on the British Empire and stabs at historical figures ranging from Churchill to Nixon to Freud with evident glee. "I've Been to Heaven and Back" is essentially a collection of out-takes. Many of these are culled from "The Mekon's Rock and Roll" sessions, a hard to find album that qualifies as the Mekon's desert island CD, or, "Exile on Main Street" in terms of tattered glory. "Heaven and Back" is notable for the cover version of Rod Stewart's, "You wear it well". The Mekons seem to be a thriving, underground cottage industry these days. Various members are active in the American alt-folk scene. "To Heaven and Back Again" is a fine introduction to one of Britain's great unknown bands."